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Kung Fu Panda 2

Directed by

Produced by

Written by

Music by

Distributed by

Budget

$150 Million

Kung Fu Panda 2 is a 2011 3D American computer-animated comedy-drama martial arts film, directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, produced by DreamWorks Animation, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the sequel to the 2008 film Kung Fu Panda and the second installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. In the film, Po and his friends battle a would-be conqueror Lord Shen with his powerful new weapon, with the giant panda discovering a distant link to his past in the process. The cast of the original film reprised their roles while the new villain, Lord Shen is voiced by Gary Oldman.

The film was released on May 26, 2011 in Real D 3D and Digital 3D. Kung Fu Panda 2 received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its animation, voice acting, action scenes and character development. It was also a commercial success surpassing the original film and, like the original film, was the highest grossing animated feature film of the year. The film was nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 84th Academy Awards.

Contents

Plot

The narrator narrates that long ago (in puppet-style animation) in ancient China, the Peacock clan that ruled Gongman City brought happiness to the land with the creation of fireworks, until their son, Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) harnessed its destructive potential as a weapon with which to rule the entire country. When he learned from the court's goat Soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh) that "a warrior of black-and-white" would one day stop him from going down this dark path, Shen had an entire village of pandas killed to avert it. Shen's parents were horrified at this atrocity and exiled Shen from Gongmen City, who swore revenge.

Twenty years later, Po (Jack Black) is living his dream as the Dragon Warrior and a Kung Fu master, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow Kung Fu masters the Furious Five, but is told by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) that he has yet to achieve inner peace, and complete a final Kung Fu technique. While fighting off a pack of wolf bandits who have been stealing refined metal for Lord Shen, Po is distracted by a symbol on the Wolf Boss's (Danny McBride) armor, which makes Po have a flashback of his mother and allows the wolves to escape. Po asks his father Mr. Ping (James Hong) where he came from, but all Ping can tell him is that he found Po as an infant in a radish crate and adopted him.

Afterwards, Shifu receives word that Master Thundering Rhino (Victor Garber), leader of the Kung Fu Council protecting Gongmen City, has been killed by Shen with his newly developed weapon, a cannon, with which he intends to destroy Kung Fu tradition and conquer China. Po and the Furious Five go to stop him, reaching Gongmen City to find it under the control of Shen's forces. The heroes find two imprisoned council members, Masters Storming Ox (Dennis Haysbert) and Croc (Jean-Claude Van Damme), and ask their help to liberate the city, but both masters cite their helplessness against Shen's weapon and refuse to help, stating that Shen will turn his weapons against the city if they do so. Po and the Five are then discovered by the Wolf Boss, whom they chase to prevent him from alerting Shen, only to be captured by Shen's gorilla army.

Upon being brought before Shen in his tower, Po and the Five free themselves and destroy Shen's cannon. However, Po is again distracted by a flashback, upon seeing the same symbol as before on Shen's plumage, allowing Shen to escape and destroy the tower with an arsenal of cannons. After escaping, Tigress (Angelina Jolie) confronts Po over his distraction. Po explains that he remembers Shen's presence on the night he was separated from his parents, and wants to question Shen about his past. Though empathetic, Tigress tells Po to stay behind for his own safety.

Regardless, Po breaks into Shen's cannon factory to confront him, inadvertently interrupting the Five's attempts to destroy the factory itself. Shen claims that Po's parents abandoned him and never loved him before he blasts Po out of the factory and captures the Five. Po is rescued by the Soothsayer, who has been exiled by Shen to the ruined village where Po was born. Guided by the Soothsayer to embrace his past, Po remembers that when he was young, his parents had sacrificed themselves to save him from Shen's forces as they killed every panda and burned down the village. While fighting back, Po's biological father Li Shan (Fred Tatasciore) ordered his wife to run and escape with their son. Po's mother ran into the snowy woods and hid him in a crate of radishes before being subdued, and once the story ended, Po lifts up a broken door from the ground and finds his childhood toy. However, realizing that despite this tragedy, he had lived a happy and fulfilling life, Po attains inner peace and decides to continue his journey to stop Shen.

Po returns to Gongmen City to rescue the captive Five and prevent Shen's conquest of China. They then battle against Shen's wolves and gorillas (in which Ox and Croc participate, after being persuaded by Shifu), managing to block the gates to Gongmen City to stop Shen from getting into the harbour. Shen, refusing to admit to defeat, uses his main cannon to clear the way, killing Boss Wolf and several of his pack in the process. During the explosion, the kung fu warriors are flung into the ocean. Po climbs onto a rock and uses his inner peace to enable the Kung Fu technique that redirects Shen's cannon fires against his own armada and destroys it, much to the other kung fu warriors' surprise. He then urges the shocked Shen to let go of his own past and to choose his own path, but Shen refuses (though he agrees to choose his own path, but decides to remain evil) and attacks Po with his knives until he accidentally slashes the ropes holding up his destroyed main cannon. Realizing he cannot move in time, Shen seemingly accepts his fate and is crushed to death by the falling cannon.

Victorious, Po returns to the Valley of Peace and reunites with Mr. Ping, bringing a box of radishes and the panda doll he found in his old village with him. He explains his journey and how he found where he came from, and knows who he is at last, and lovingly declares Mr. Ping to be his father. The two embrace and then proceed to cook together in the shop's kitchen. Elsewhere, in an unknown location far from the Valley of Peace, Li Shan is shown to be living in a hidden village with other surviving pandas, and comes to the sudden realization that his son is alive.

Sequels

A sequel, Kung Fu Panda 3, is scheduled to be released on January 29, 2016. It will be directed again by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and will be produced in co-production with the Chinese-American studio Oriental DreamWorks.

DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has said that perhaps the series could see three more sequels after Kung Fu Panda 3, bringing it to a six-film series.